Museum of Broken Relationships, Pride, Tableware

Hello, and thank you to my friends who have emailed me off the blog to let me know they liked hearing about the Museum of Broken Relationships and are awaiting the interview on NPR with the artists, Olinka Vištica and Drazen Grubišić.

Here is the NPR* story on the Museum of Broken Relationships, with an interview with the artists. It is very charming. I found it took a bit of navigating the NPR web site to find the story, so I have posted the link here or here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89785613

I really liked the interview because I like the idea of a Museum of Broken Relationships and because the dynamic of the interview, especially the way the artists talked about their work, reminded me of the artistic culture in Zagreb. Well, and what broken relationships feel like in general, but in Zagreb specifically.

I lived in Zagreb recently. Also, my parents are from there. I conducted my PhD research there. I study consumer emotions, specifically pride, as they are felt during the ritual of the family meal, using tableware. I focus on pride as it relates to feelings of the self and status.

I especially focus on women's feelings of pride as they relate to tableware. That is one more reason I like this museum. Women who have been in a marriage for twenty years are proud to have a set of plates that serves twelve, expensive or not, and to have had it since the start of their marriage. They are proud when the set is in tact. Nothing in that precious set was thrown against the wall or on the floor in a fit of anger. Maybe other things were thrown, but not that. The set was kept together, the marriage was kept together.

NPR* is, in short, a radio programming organization. They provide news and other content. They are a public organization.